


water like misery

by madasazar



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies)
Genre: Angst, Blood, Blood and Injury, Character Death, Funeral, Grief/Mourning, Hurt No Comfort, Hurt Peter Parker, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, M/M, Peter Parker Needs a Hug, Peter-centric, acceptance of death, brief descriptions of violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-01
Updated: 2020-08-01
Packaged: 2021-03-05 19:08:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,501
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25640353
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/madasazar/pseuds/madasazar
Summary: It is as if Peter and Harley always get soaked in the rain whether in the good times or the bad times.
Relationships: Harley Keener/Peter Parker, Peter Parker & Tony Stark
Comments: 4
Kudos: 40
Collections: Parkner Rain Collection





	water like misery

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! Make sure to read the tags before reading everyone <3.

Peter walked down the sidewalk with an umbrella over his head towards Harley who wasn’t wearing any rain gear and was soaked. He wore a goofy smile on his face and laughed as Peter sighed at the look of him. 

“You’re an idiot,” Peter said as he reached his boyfriend.

“But I’m your idiot, you know.” Harley slid under the umbrella next to Peter and grabbed the handle to hold for him.

Peter leaned up to press a small kiss on Harley’s cheek as he snuggled into his side, not caring if he were to get wet. “And you’re the cheesiest person I know.”

Harley let out a throaty chuckle as they started walking down the street towards the park. The streets were almost empty as people tried to stay dry. Without the threat of getting called out for showing affection in public, Harley pulled Peter over into a small alley and pressed him against the wall. He leaned in and kissed the shorter boy breathlessly. 

Peter was surprised but went along with it. His senses were dialed up, and he could feel and hear everything around from the dog barking three blocks away to the grain of the brick wall through his rain jacket and sweatshirt. However, he could feel Harley most of all: his calluses on his hand on the neck and back, his soft silky hair between fingertips, and his soft and wet lips touching Peter’s. 

In the heat of the moment, Harley dropped the umbrella allowing the rain to fall over them without restraint. Peter was getting soaked, but he didn’t care. All he cares about is the boy in front of him.

The two lovers held hands with an umbrella over their heads as they walked down the streets as Harley ran a thumb over the ring on Peter’s ring finger. Harley had proposed to Peter in the park a few weeks before on another rainy day. Currently, they were walking to that same park to spend time together. Peter giggled at a science joke he said as Harley rolled his eyes lovingly. 

“Hey! Here’s another one.” Peter looked up at Harley and smiled cheekily. “What’s wrong when a physicist and a biologist get into a relationship?”

Harley chuckled. He already knew the answer, but he let his fiance have at it. “I don’t know darlin’. What is wrong?”

“There’s no chemistry.” With that, Peter fell into a fit of giggles and leaned his head on Harley’s shoulder.

“Well then, thank God you are a chemist.” Peter was about to reply when he sensed something happening about a block away. Harley dropped his smile and grabbed Peter’s arm. “What’s wrong Peter?”

Peter quickly pulled Harley into an alley before letting go and digging through his backpack. “Cover for me.” Harley looked at him before sighing and making sure no one would see Peter change into his vigilante’s costume. 

Right before Peter was about to put on his mask and swing away, he quickly kissed his partner who was somewhat scared. “Peter what is it?”

“I think it’s just a mugging, I’ll be back in fifteen minutes top. I love you.”

Before Harley could even finish his ‘I love you’ back, Peter was already in the air and away. He let out a breath and decided to sit down against the wall till Peter came back. It never got old. Every time that duty called for Peter, he still felt worried even though he knew Peter could handle it. 

Harley was so engrossed in his thoughts that he forgot it was raining, and he became soaked from the rain just like a few weeks ago. It had become increasingly darker as the larger clouds started to block the light from the sun shining more. The umbrella they were using earlier was leaning against the wall across from him. He decided to cross the alley and pick it up. As he leaned down to grab it, a body slammed his head against the wall causing him to black out.

Peter quickly webbed the man up to the wall and comforted the poor teenage girl who was still in shock from the experience. It wasn’t just a simple mugging but an attempted rape. Three guys were surrounding this girl in a dark alley when Peter came. Luckily, he arrived just in time before anything more could have happened. 

Unfortunately, he only managed to catch the one guy as the other two were able to run off while Peter was handling him. They were still out there, and Peter had to stop them. However, the poor girl was still freaking out, and he knew he should help her.

“You okay there?” He wrapped his arms around her, and she sobbed into his shoulder shaking her head no. “What’s your name?”

“Elayna.” He almost couldn’t understand her with her mouth pressed into his shoulder.

“Okay then Elayna, do you have someone you can call that’ll come get you?”

She nodded and leaned back to grab her phone. Peter waited with her comforting her as she talked to what he assumed was her boyfriend until he felt the hairs on the back of his neck rise.  _ Harley _ . Peter started to breathe heavier with anxiety about what to do. This girl was too distraught to handle herself, but his fiance was also in trouble. 

“I’m really sorry Elayna, but I have to go.” Peter sucked in a breath. “Can you handle yourself? It’s much safer on the street near a lot of people.”

“Not r-really, but I know duty calls.” He nodded, brought her out to the street, and let go of her. 

“I’m really sorry. Now make sure to watch out. I’ll have my AI keep track of you till you are home okay?”

“Okay.” Peter nodded and swung away towards Harley.  _ Harley Harley Harley. _ “Fuck.” When he arrived at the alley Harley was in, he surveyed it for hostiles only to find Harley lying unconscious on the ground next to their umbrella. He rolled his fiance over to see a large gash in the middle of his head. He was still breathing which was good. 

“Harley? Wake up for me please. Please baby, wake up.” Peter kept pushing for Harley to wake up, but he wouldn’t. Peter knew he had to bring Harley to the medbay at Stark Tower as soon as possible. Peter picked up Harley in his arms, but before he was able to swing away, he sensed someone behind him. 

Peter shot four webs at the two intruders locking their arms to the wall; however, not before one of them got a shot out. Peter looked down at the body he was carrying to notice blood seeping out of a bullet wound right around Harley’s midsection. He panicked for a moment before knowing he needed to get Harley to care immediately. “Karen. Call Tony.” He swung towards the tower listening for Harley’s heartbeat.  _ It wasn’t there _ .

“No, no, no, no, please.” Peter felt everything leave his body. He couldn’t handle the pain. He couldn’t handle the loss. He couldn’t handle living without Harley. He dropped quickly into an alley and let Harley down to the ground. “Don’t leave me baby.  _ Fuck _ .”

In a mess of emotions, Peter removed his mask not caring if anyone saw him. Not caring that he was a mess of blood, rain, and tears. Not caring that  _ the world _ could see him. All that mattered was the boy in front of him.  _ Not awake. Not breathing. Not living. _ He knelt over the body and cried out. “Please. I need you Harley.”

He hovered over his dead fiance.  _ His soulmate _ . The one who he was supposed to be with for the rest of their lives, but is now dead because of  _ him _ . All because Peter was a second too late. All because he let two men run off from a crime scene.  _ His fault. _

During this time, he swore he heard the few clicks of cameras behind him. He didn’t care. There was something more important than his identity in front of him. However, that someone was dead.  _ Because of him _ . 

It felt like he had been there for hours before the telltale whirs of the Iron Man suit reached him. He felt Tony behind him grabbing his armpits to pick him up. “C’mon kid, let’s get you out of here.” Peter didn’t have the energy to fight him. As Tony flew them away, he looked back until the sight of Harley and his mask was covered by buildings in the way.

The rest of that day was forgotten by Peter. He was too emotionally drained to remember. He lost his soulmate and his identity all in one day. Nothing mattered anymore to Peter. He was a walking corpse the next few weeks. He woke up, ate, went to the bathroom, and then went back to sleep just to repeat it again the next day. 

The only exceptions those weeks were the press conference about Spider-Man and the funeral. Even though he managed to be able to be there, Peter just stood to the side quietly while Tony announced that Peter was Spider-Man and was taking a break until he was emotionally better. There were questions about how Harley had died, and Peter choked up when they were asked. However, Tony ignored them stating that Peter was not in a good enough place to speak up and that Peter hadn’t even told Tony the truth even though it was obvious he looked through Karen’s footage.

When the funeral happened, Peter was expected to say a eulogy, but he couldn’t even make it halfway through what he wrote without breaking down and having to stop. He could hear the whispers from the people in the audience who knew Harley but not Peter, and it made him feel even worse.  _ “Isn’t he a superhero? I thought they were supposed to be strong.” _

When it came time to bury Harley, Peter was the last one to see Harley before the casket was closed. He laid the engagement ring on top of the bouquet between Harley’s fingers and left. He didn’t even stay for the burial part and instead walked aimlessly around the city until he sat down on the park bench right next to where they got engaged. He sat there until it started pouring rain, and he became soaked. He couldn’t bring himself to move until it was dark, and Tony came and picked him up to bring him home.

Peter couldn’t bring himself to care about anything those weeks after Harley’s death; however, it gradually got better. By the time the fall semester of his senior year at MIT rolled around, he was ready to handle real life again. It was hard without Harley there with him at college. At midterms, his mental health was deteriorating again causing him to almost fail, but with the support of Tony and his friends, he managed to bring his grades back up again to end the semester and then the year. 

He graduated with his family, and that was the first day he was able to truly smile since Harley had died. It was raining again of course. After the ceremony, he rode with Tony to Harley’s grave with an honorary diploma the college decided to give.

Peter looked at the grave for the first time; he couldn’t bring himself to come look at it before.

_ Harley David Keener _

_ 1999-2020 _

He started to tear up at the sight of it, but he still sat in front of it on the wet ground. Peter was gripping the diploma that was in a frame close to his chest. Tony was standing over Peter holding an umbrella preventing them from getting wet. “Can I have a few moments with him Mr. Stark?”

“Yes of course, do you want the umbrella.” Tony looked concerned for him but knew that Peter needed this.

“No thanks.” Peter choked out a small laugh. “We have a tendency to get soaked in the rain.” 

Tony nodded and walked away allowing Peter to have some time alone to collect his thoughts.

“Hey Harley. It’s uhh, been a while hasn’t it?” Peter frowned before wearing a small smile. “We graduated today? Can you believe that? I can’t either. Haha. I-I brought you your diploma. You really deserve it, you know.”

Peter sucked in a breath. “I miss you, a lot. If I could put it into a number out of ten, it would probably be the number of decimals pi has. I-I hope you are having a good time wherever you are, and I hope you miss me too. Umm. You- did you know I had a hard time coping in the beginning? There were days where I couldn’t even bring myself to get out of bed, and you know, be a human pretty much. When school started this fall, I was better, but without you there, I started to fall back into that state where-where I wouldn’t care. Where I couldn’t bring myself to care, but I had support. I had support from our friends and-and our family, and they made me remember that you wouldn’t want me to be like this. They made me remember that you would want me to move on. Go on in life.”

He choked on some tears. “I could never move on though; I don’t think I ever will. I’ll try though. I’ll try just for you, just because I love you.”

Peter sat back and looked up into the rain falling over him. It was always rain. Always raining with Harley. As the rain soaked through his dress shirt and pants, he thought about the times they were getting soaked in the rain and not caring about it. It was what they did. He looked back at the grave with a tear and rain soaked face. “You know, I feel like we always end up getting soaked.” He let out a small laugh. “I don’t know what it is with rain, but it is attracted to us I guess.”

Peter looked down at the diploma he was holding and smiled softly. He stood up ready to leave. “I guess I should let you go. You probably are busy with people; I mean, you were always the popular one. I bet everyone loves you up there. Not as much as I love you, but you know what I mean.”

Peter looked up at the sky one last time before looking at the rest of Harley’s grave. 

_ Loving son, friend, and fiance. _

“I love you. Never forget that. See ya around Harley.” With that, Peter turned around and started walking back to Tony and the vehicle. It felt like a weight was lifted off Peter’s chest as he accepted living on without Harley. As rain started to lighten up, and the sun started to peek through the clouds, he smiled softly. Rain has made Peter feel many emotions, but today, he felt content.

**Author's Note:**

> This is for the Parkner Pals! Server Event for July 16-31. This bi-weekly prompt is: Rain of course.
> 
> I recently became an admin for this server, and I just want to let you all know that you are welcome to join us!
> 
> https://discord.gg/UCPSntJ


End file.
